Vettel nears third title and F1 greatness

Defending drivers' champion Sebastian Vettel will stand at the threshold of greatness when he lines up in the United States on Sunday week for his 100th Formula One race.

The 25-year-old German can clinch his third successive title with Red Bull and become the youngest triple champion in F1 history if he wins the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

And, after his near-amazing drive from a pitlane start to finish on the podium at last Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there are few observers left who have any reservations about Vettel's status in the hall of champions.

Sir Jackie Stewart might not agree, commenting recently that he was yet to be convinced Vettel has become a great driver. But others have already declared the 'baby faced assassin' is one of the greatest.

Certainly, his Red Bull team are - as expected - full of admiration not only the technical merit of the champion, who heads across the Atlantic with a 10-point advantage over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Vettel's team are also in awe of the German's mental strength.

Team chief Christian Horner revealed earlier this week that Vettel was the only man in the team convinced he could pull off a good result (in Abu Dhabi).

"Fernando (Alonso) looked very revved up on the podium having gone forward four places, while Seb had gone to the podium via losing his front wing," said Horner.

"Seb is going about his job the way he does it. Mentally, he is very strong. Before the race, I went to see him to wish him good luck, and he is in there playing a drum kit with his trainer.

"He said 'I will see you later on the podium'.

"He was the one guy in the briefing room on Saturday night - while the rest of us were ready to slit our wrists - who said he could do it."

Horner said the standings will make no difference to the way Red Bull approach the race weekend.

"As we have seen before, as we did last weekend, when you are on the edge, things can go wrong," he said.

"And we cannot take anything for granted. We have to go to Austin to attack the weekend. It is a new track for everybody and we have to go there and get a good result."

Vettel is amazed at how quickly he has clocked up his 99 races to date.

Before last Sunday's race, he said: "Well, 98 times so far when the lights went off - all 98 times, I've been through the first corner. You don't realise how quickly time goes by.

"I think I have learned a lot. It's the same for the team. It made us all tougher. The spirit hasn't changed. We're still hungry, but winning the title has been an important goal - the most important thing I wanted to achieve in my life."

AFP

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